National Signing Day is typically a busy one in the Big Country Preps’ coverage area and 2025 was no exception with several players inking and/or confirming their commitments to play at the next level.
At various signing ceremonies held throughout the area, athletes celebrated their final choices to pursue a degree while competing collegiately.
It was a special afternoon on Wednesday inside the Cooper and Wylie gyms as 15 local athletes from a variety of sports made their college decisions official in a pair of signing ceremonies.
Cooper had nearly all of the signees as 14 seniors signed for their future with their families, friends, coaches and community members filling the bleachers of Cougar Gymnasium.
At Wylie, meanwhile, Garrett Salada was the lone signee, taking a brief break from his prep for this week’s Region I-5A quarterfinal series against crosstown rival Abilene High to solidify his pledge to Luna Community College in Las Vegas, N.M.
What appeared to be a slow year for the Big Country on the signing front quickly blossomed into something memorable in 2022.
With National Signing Day taking place on Wednesday, the Big Country Preps coverage area finished with multiple Division I signees, including several on the gridiron.
In reaching the fourth round of the Region I-5A softball playoffs with six consecutive postseason victories, Cooper coach Stacey Herring knew her team had accomplished something pretty special.
She didn’t know just how special, however, until she did a little digging into the program’s history.
As it turns out, the Lady Cougars (25-8) are in the midst of their deepest playoff run since 1996. And while they’re thrilled to stand alone as the most successful CHS team in a quarter-century, they’re not remotely ready call it a season just yet.
In most years, I’d be spending this week decompressing from a long and eventful high school sports season.
The state baseball tournament, originally slated to wrap up Saturday, would have marked the end of an 11-month marathon for us here at Big Country Preps while signalling the beginning of our preparation for a new one.
Unfortunately — and I don’t think I’m breaking any news when I say this — 2020 has not been a normal year. Instead of following my strict routine with near ritualistic devotion, I’ve just been waiting for the next curveball and hoping to foul it off.
To say it’s been a challenge would be an understatement. But it’s out of challenges that some of our best work comes, and I’d like to think that was the case with our “What Might Have Been” feature series, which ends today with this column.
The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15. If you have a suggested story for the “What Might Have Been” series, please contact Big Country Preps at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
For those who keep track of Big Country high school athletics, the names of Tye Scogin and Tripp Scott are likely to ring a bell. The Jayton High School 
standouts have become familiar to area fans as key elements in back-to-back trips to the state basketball tournament by JHS.
What very few realize, however, is that they were about to form what was anticipated to be one of the area’s top boys doubles teams in tennis — one that may have had a shot at a regional title and trip to state.
We’ll never know.
With the University Interscholastic League’s mandatory lockdown of all school activities across Texas due to COVID-19 and the subsequent cancellation of all spring sporting events as a safety measure, the Scogin and Scott duo never had a chance to materialize.
I’ve always held to a personal axiom that perspective is everything. True or not, how we view a situation becomes the truth in our minds.
There’s no escaping it and every one of us has our own perspective.
Well, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown have changed my perspective in several ways on several different things. And for a middle-aged guy who is pretty well set in my ways, this is like the planets aligning.
I’ve managed to list my top 10 takeaways from lockdown, as they pertain to this website and what we’re trying to accomplish here.
Let’s dive in:
Continue reading “EVAN REN: 10 things I’ll take away from the COVID-19 pandemic”
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
— Voltaire
There’s a barbeque place near my home that I don’t like. In fact, I seldom go there — deliberately bypassing it whenever the BBQ craving hits me in favor of better choices.
But Friday, after two months of COVID-19 exile, I decided to make a quick run to bring home some brisket for the wife and I and elected to go to the very place I try to avoid because it was convenient.
Funny how one’s perspective can change while in isolation.
Abilene’s worst barbeque was suddenly good. In fact, it was beyond good. It was like freakin’ nirvana.
I suspect that’s the way it’s going to be with virtually everything I had taken for granted before the lockdown. And I’m already experiencing some of it.
Continue reading “EVAN REN: Virus may teach us some appreciation (for a while)”
On the heels of announcing our first-ever Big Country Preps Girls Athlete of the Year, it’s now time to announce our first boys winner.
Again, our Athlete of the Year and subsequent “Super Dozen” represent the Big Country Athletes who contributed the most to their athletic programs — most often over a broad range of disciplines.
So, at this time, Big Country Preps proudly announces its Boys Athlete of the Year: Kevin Yeager of De Leon.
An Athlete of the Year award for the Big Country has been a long time coming, and Big Country Preps is officially ending the wait.
What better way to end our first school year than by honoring our top all-around athletes. By that, we mean those athletes who competed at a high level over a broad range of disciplines and had the biggest overall impact on their athletic programs (as nominated by area athletic directors).
So without further ado, we proudly announce our first Big Country Preps Girls Athlete of the Year: Anna Masonheimer of Eula.
From start to finish, Masonheimer was a key contributor to Eula’s athletic success during the 2018-19 school year, beginning with her helping the EHS cross country team reach the regional meet.
She was the MVP of Eula’s district champion basketball team, earning all state honors from both the Texas Association of Basketball coaches and the Texas Girls Coaches Association. But she was just getting started at that point.
With the final Friday night of high school football’s regular season upon us, it’s time to take a quick look at the playoff picture, before the proverbial second season begins.
We’ll go through them, district by district, in rapid succession.
Why waste time? Let’s jump into it.